Lucius tried to enter every shop he could find, but he was turned away from every single one. He was even turned away from small, run-down houses. He was forced to go to the scrap yard.
Scrap Street.
From rusty junk tools to scraps of magical tools. You could find everything here.
The street vendors were constantly calling out. Shouts were frequent.
"What are you looking for, young sir? Please, take a look at our shop…"
"We sell roots and flowers…"
Lucius was drawn to that voice and turned around. "Roots?" he asked.
The man who had shouted stood up immediately. "Here, we sell roots, flowers, and aromatic herbs!"
Lucius walked over to his stall and wrinkled his nose at the "aromatic" smell. It was all rotten.
"Sir, do you sell Glass Moss Root?" he asked, noticing there wasn't any on the counter.
"Huh? Why would we sell toxic junk?" the man exclaimed. "Nobody sells that kind of thing."
Lucius sighed; he nodded and walked away.
'Everything here is useless,' he thought. Given his extensive knowledge, he found it pointless to buy most of it.
Unless he were some kind of divine welder, it was impossible to salvage them.
'Hm?'
It was at the end of Scrap Street, and a man sitting on fine fabrics had his stall set apart from the rest.
The magical tools, though rusty and old, weren't broken.
He crouched down and looked at them.
"Sir, how much is this one?" he asked.
The man, who was about 50 years old, looked at the object, took the pipe out of his mouth, and replied, "300 credits." Then he put the pipe back in his mouth.
Lucius's eyes widened.
"300 credits for this junk?"
What a rip-off!
"Does it look like the junk everyone else sells?" the man asked, smoke billowing from his mouth and nose.
Lucius frowned. The short answer was: no. These can be fixed if you have the right knowledge.
"That's why they're expensive."
"They're still useless!" Lucius exclaimed.
"If you don't know anything about junk, don't give your opinion, young man. If you fix them, they can be worth thousands of credits. Trust me, I'm the man who knows these lands best."
"And do you know how to fix them? From what I can see, you're just another street-corner loan shark."
"Ugh…" The man choked on the smoke and glared fiercely at Lucius. "If you're not going to buy, then get out of here. I don't have time for a brat's nonsense."
Lucius was taken aback by his thick skin. "Let's make a trade," he said.
The man set the pipe aside and looked at him. "I said 300 credits."
"I'll fix two of these for you, and you'll give me one. How about it?" Lucius ignored his words.
The man looked at him, shocked. "Fix them? Do you even know what they are?" he scolded him.
"You've got nothing to lose, so why are you getting so grumpy? Are all the old folks around here this grumpy?" Lucius complained.
The man hesitated; he didn't believe this young man could fix something that even he couldn't. But in New Asturias, many dragons act like pigs to eat the tiger. If this young man is one of them...
He nodded slightly. "If you can, we have a deal."
"Very well. But I don't plan on doing it here; there are too many people. Let's go somewhere quiet."
"You expect me to give up my spot in the middle of the day?" The man growled angrily again.
"300 credits for each piece of scrap—tell me…" Lucius looked out at the long road. Many people dressed like beggars were staggering along. The few who wanted to buy were dressed slightly better than a beggar. "Who's going to buy from you?"
That wasn't a small amount. In the Iron Suburbs, you could live comfortably for a while. No one was going to spend that much on scrap.
On the street, it was common to see offers like: 5 kg of scrap for 3 credits, your choice.
But this man was selling every piece of scrap at exorbitant prices.
The man glared at him fiercely, but stood up. "Follow me," he said, gathering his things.
They walked through the alleys and away from Scrap Street, venturing deeper into the poorest and most abandoned neighborhoods.
In one of the dilapidated houses, the man pushed open a wooden door that creaked because its hinges were dry and went inside.
"The air is awful," Lucius said, covering his nose with his hand.
"It can't be helped." The man sat down beside a bed, a groan of pain escaping his mouth. "The outer barrier is thirty meters away; it isn't strong enough to hold back the cursed mana coming from the Ground."
Lucius nodded and swallowed. A peculiar taste of blood invaded his taste buds. He had only been slightly exposed to the cursed mana from the Ground, and he was already bleeding internally.
'This body is a disaster.'
"Cough." The man coughed up blood and wrinkled his nose for a brief moment.
"You're dying too, old usurer."
"Tsk, don't pay attention to such trivial matters." He pulled a sack from under the bed and handed it to him.
Inside the sack were another 300 magical tools. But there were also ordinary tools used for maintenance.
At a glance, Lucius could see that this man was constantly trying to restore them. Although apparently, without any success.
Lucius's eyes sparkled with interest. "You've got a lot of good stuff, old loan shark. I thought you were some kind of con artist who wanted my head to eat."
The man wrinkled his nose again. "Can you stop saying such disgusting things? I'm lending them to you. I want to see you work. Use whatever you want here."
Lucius laughed and sat down. "Even though you have good stuff, I don't need it." He grabbed a metal nail and some screws. Then he grabbed a few magical tools and placed them around him.
Immediately, he began to work.
"Just with a nail and some screws?" The old man shook his head. "It's obvious you don't know anything."
"Keeping your mouth shut when you can't do something is the first step to learning how to do it, old usurer," Lucius replied without taking his eyes off what he was doing.
Although it infuriated the old usurer, he remained silent.
Lucius managed to take apart a magical tool in a matter of seconds and did exactly the same with four others.
In one minute, they were all disassembled before him. Something even the old usurer had never managed to do.
"You… How the hell did you take that apart?"
Lucius didn't answer. He focused on his work.
Inside, the magical tools have numerous reddish-copper wires through which mana flows. Although none of the ones he had on hand had functional mana flowing through them. The rust had managed to spread and destroy many of the wires.
'They're in better shape than I expected. This can easily be restored.' He frowned and looked at the old usurer.
"Where did you get these things?"
"From the companies' scrap yards. They tend to throw them away often."
"Really? I didn't see any others as complete as these on that street." Lucius asked suspiciously. His words weren't credible.
Still, the old usurer simply shrugged. "I already told you. No one knows this place better than I do."
'He's strangely suspicious.' Lucius ignored the old usurer and went back to his work.
Most of the magical tools were useless in the old man's eyes. But for Lucius, this was a blessing in disguise.
He moved his hands. He removed the rust. He connected the copper wires and channeled ambient energy through them. Then he began to tie them together.
The reconstruction process was enlightening. The old usurer immediately understood that he was facing one of those hidden dragons.